The Power of Positive Thinking: Truth or Myth?
You might call Maarten van der Weijden the anti-Lance Armstrong. Last week, the Dutch Olympic long-distance swimming champion and cancer survivor told the British newspaper The Telegraph that he didn’t want to be compared to the American cycling star.
“Armstrong says that positive thinking and doing a lot of sports can save you. I don’t agree,” said van der Weijden. “I even think it’s dangerous because it implies that if you are not a positive thinker all the time you lose … The doctors saved me. I am just lucky.”
Van der Weijden’s comments cut to the heart of an ongoing debate in the medical community. Can patients really improve their chances of survival by staying upbeat and happy? Experts say the American public has largely accepted this as fact. But, scientifically speaking, questions remain regarding whether this works, how it would work, and what such a connection would mean for patients who don’t get better.
Appeal and promise
There certainly is an appeal to believing that you have some level of control over a debilitating illness. “I think it’s part of the American spirit,” said James Coyne, director of the behavioral oncology program at the Abramson Cancer Center and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. “There’s this idea that you can succeed and conquer anything, even illness, on the basis of your character.”
And studies showing a possible connection between positive thinking and health are frequently in the news. For instance, work by researchers at Ben-Gurion University in Israel suggested that women who’ve faced several life challenges, such as a death in the family or divorce, are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than peers who’ve had more stable, happy lives. The results were detailed in the Aug. 21 issue of the journal BMC Cancer.
The same study also found that women with cancer were more likely to report that, prior to diagnosis, they had been anxious or depressed and that bad things had happened in their lives.
Ronit Peled, one of the Ben-Gurion University researchers, said this was evidence for a relationship between emotional well-being and the risk of contracting cancer. “The main message from my point of view is that young women who have severe life events at a young age should be considered a risk group for breast cancer and treated accordingly,” she said. “But general feelings of happiness and optimism in one’s life can play a protective role.”
Coyne said the public often takes news like this to mean that positive thinking has been unequivocally proven to be good for your health.
But the truth is a little more complicated.
How do you feel?
In reality, there is no clear-cut answer yet on whether being upbeat can keep you healthy or cure anything, Peled and Coyne both said. Research on the subject is divided between studies like Peled’s and studies like the one Coyne did, detailed in December 2007 in the journal Cancer, which found that emotional well-being wasn’t an accurate predictor of whether or not patients with neck and head cancer survived.
Coyne is particularly skeptical of positive thinking’s power over cancer. “The problem with cancer is that it’s so complex. By the time you’re diagnosed it may have been building for decades,” he said.
For other diseases, though, the scientific outlook is sunnier. Coyne said there’s evidence that mood can predict whether someone who has had one heart attack will have another. And he said there is a biological explanation for why this might be possible.
Little research has been done on the biological basis of positive thinking as a therapeutic treatment for illness, but Coyne said scientists know the brain and the immune system communicate. Given that scientists also know the immune system plays a role in inflammation of the arteries, which can play a role in heart attack, it’s reasonable to think that heart attacks could be tied back to things going on in the brain.
Good, bad
However, when Coyne and other researchers tried to intercede and treat depression among heart attack patients, they found the patient’s moods improved, but the rates of second heart attack didn’t. Ironically, Coyne said, the most evidence for emotion affecting health actually favors negative emotions, not positive ones. For instance, he said, we know anger and depression are correlated with having a second heart attack, however, what’s unproven is whether being positive can reduce the risk.
Another way emotion could affect health, even for complicated illnesses such as cancer, is by affecting the patient’s willingness to stick to the treatment plan. “It could be an indirect effect,” said Anne Harrington, chair of Harvard University’s history of science program and author of “The Cure Within: A History of Mind-Body Medicine” (W.W. Norton, 2008). “If a person is positive, he or she is more likely to show up for all the treatments to have a better diet to exercise. And if you’re deeply depressed you sleep badly and that’s bad for your health.”
But Harrington and Coyne echoed the concerns of Maarten van der Weijden, saying that findings about emotions and health shouldn’t be used to pressure patients into feeling a certain way.
In fact, Harrington said, that could hurt the patient more than if they’d been left alone. “Misinterpretations of this research can make people afraid to have the feelings they have,” she said. “I have a colleague who’s studied this and it’s very clear from his work that it’s just as stressful to keep up a performance of positivity as it is to [keep up] a bad mood. It’s very stressful to be inauthentically upbeat all the time.”
Obama launches historic campaign
Barack Obama has accepted the Democratic Party’s historic nomination to run for president of the US in front of a crowd of some 75,000 people.
In an address at the party’s national convention in Denver, he promised he would do his best to keep alive the American dream of opportunity for all.
“America, we are better than these last eight years,” he told cheering crowds. “We are a better country than this.”
Mr Obama is the first African-American to be nominated by a major US party.
In his speech at Denver’s Invesco stadium, Mr Obama promised to reverse the economic downturn afflicting the US and restore the nation’s standing in the world.
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 I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom  Barack Obama
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“We are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look just like the last eight years,” he said.
He also attacked the record of the Bush administration and his Republican rival for the presidency, John McCain.
“This moment – this election – is our chance to keep, in the 21st Century, the American promise alive.”
Mr Obama criticised Mr McCain as out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans and said he had failed to help them on issues such as the economy, health care and education.
He also stressed that he would call for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, whereas Mr McCain stood “alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war”, he said.
“I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, who yearn for a better future,” he said.
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 Tens of thousands of people gathered to hear Mr Obama’s speech
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Enlarge ImageHe rejected criticism by the McCain campaign that he is a “celebrity”, pointing to his family’s past financial hardships, and said his rival should stop questioning his patriotism.
In a final rallying call, Mr Obama recalled the message of Martin Luther King, who – 45 years ago to the day – gave his “I have a dream” speech in his historic march on Washington.
“America, we cannot turn back,” he said. “We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to walk into the future.”
Joined on stage by his family and running-mate, Joe Biden, Mr Obama was given a standing ovation by the crowds.
‘Not ready’
Earlier in the day, Mr McCain ran a TV advert in which he congratulated Mr Obama on the historic nature – and date – of his nomination, saying it was “truly a good day for America”.
The political truce was short-lived, however, with a spokesman for the McCain campaign issuing a statement following Mr Obama’s address that dismissed his words as “misleading”.
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 If you like the Bush-Cheney approach, John McCain’s your man. If you want change, then vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden Former Vice-President Al Gore
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“Tonight, Americans witnessed a misleading speech that was so fundamentally at odds with the meagre record of Barack Obama,” spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
“The fact remains, Barack Obama is still not ready to be president.”
The BBC’s Justin Webb in Denver says that this needed to be a serious speech by Mr Obama and it was.
One feature was that Mr Obama made frequent reference to the future, our correspondent says. The Obama camp knows that Americans are worried about Mr McCain’s age and ever so subtly they are making an allusion to it.
Martin Luther King’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, had earlier told the convention that his father’s dream lived on in Mr Obama’s candidacy.
“He is in the hopes and dreams, the competence and courage, the rightness and readiness of Barack Obama.”
Former Vice-President Al Gore also called on the Democrats to “seize this opportunity for change” and elect Mr Obama.
Linking Mr McCain firmly to the policies of President George W Bush, Mr Gore said it was vital that Americans changed course if they wanted to tackle a “self-inflicted economic crisis”, protect the rights of every American and halt global warming.
Mr Gore added that the US was “facing a planetary emergency” and that the ties of Mr McCain and the Republicans to big oil firms meant they would not act to end the country’s reliance on fossil fuels.
‘Open convention’
Mr Gore’s address, warmly received by the crowd, followed performances from singers Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow and John Legend.
The Obama campaign took the unusual move of holding the closing night speeches in the sports stadium to allow ordinary voters, as well as party delegates, to attend.
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 His supporters and those sympathetic to him are breathing a sigh of relief BBC North America editor Justin Webb, on the Obama nomination
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Mr Obama’s much-anticipated appearance was the highlight of the party’s carefully choreographed four-day event.
Questions remain as to whether Mr Obama can cement his standing within his own party, and reach out to those parts of the electorate that are yet to be convinced by him, the BBC’s Matthew Price in Denver notes.
He was resoundingly endorsed by ex-President Bill Clinton on Wednesday, which may help consolidate his standing.
Earlier that same day, in a moment of high drama, his defeated rival Hillary Clinton cut short a roll-call vote to endorse Mr Obama’s candidacy by acclamation, in a powerful gesture of unity.
The presidential election on 4 November will pit Mr Obama against Mr McCain, who will be nominated next week at his party’s convention in St Paul, Minnesota.
Republican officials say Mr McCain has chosen his running-mate, but the person’s identity has not yet been announced.
Mr McCain is due to hold a 10,000-strong rally in the swing state of Ohio on Friday, at which it was expected he would present his vice-presidential candidate.
Big jump in top GCSE exam grades
There has been the biggest annual rise since 1990 in the proportion of GCSE exam entries awarded the best grades.
This year 65.7% of the exams taken were awarded A* to C grades, a rise of 2.4 percentage points from 63.3% last year, the exam boards reported.
As hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their results, the pass rate rose again, to 98.4%.
More than a fifth – 20.7% – were awarded either A* or A grades.
The number of entries fell to a five-year low of 5.7 million entries this summer compared with 5.8 million in 2007, down 2.7%.
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GCSE RESULTS SUMMER 2008
Overall pass rate 98.4%
Overall A*-C grades: 65.7%
Northern Ireland A*-C: 74.5%
England A*-C: 65.5%
Wales A*-C: 65.0%
Source: JCQ
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The provisional statistics were published by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ), which said the decline was bigger than would be expected from the drop in the number of 16-year-olds in the population.
The director general of the AQA exam board, Dr Mike Cresswell, said: “Some young people are focusing their efforts on fewer GCSEs.
“That has been a trend that has been happening since 2003.”
He said the average number of GCSEs taken per student had fallen from just over eight in 2003 to just under eight this year.
Another factor was that more students had taken English and maths exams early, in November, and these were not included in these summer results.
National and regional variations
As usual entries from Northern Ireland outperformed the rest. There, 26.4% were awarded A* or A grades and 74.5% A* to C.
In England, 20.6% achieved A*/A and 65.5% A* to C. In Wales the figures were 18.9% and 65%.
Scotland’s exam results were released two weeks ago.
Luke, Ryan and Becky open their results
A Welsh Assembly Government spokesperson said their results compared very favourably with England’s.
“Our overall pass rates are identical, the increase in pass rates is identical and the difference in proportion of A*-C grades is less than one percentage point – these figures do not constitute a gap in performance let alone a widening one.
“We have different assessment policies to those in place in England, this is true, but the results published today prove that Wales makes positive and consistent progress without the sometimes divisive influence of onerous testing regimes, league tables and tightly defined targets.”
It will be another couple of months before statistics are available on how well students have done, such as what percentage achieved five or more good grades.
In England, confirmed results for each school will be published in the annual “league tables” in January as usual, though some may publicise their own results. Other parts of the UK do not publish such tables.
This year for the first time the JCQ has published a regional breakdown of results within England, which accounts for the bulk of the exam entries.
Why are people always talking about how exams are getting easier and not congratulating people for actually doing well? Has it never occurred to them that maybe students are just doing better?
This showed that the improvement in A grades between 2002 and 2008 was greatest in London – from 18% to 23.4% (up 5.4 percentage points) – and the North East, from 11.7% to 17% (up 5.3).
London’s improvement is telling because schools there have been put under the spotlight in a “challenge” programme now being applied nationally.
English education ministers want at least 30% of pupils in each school to attain five A*-C grades, including maths and English, by 2011.
They regard 638 schools as under-performing and have made them subject to their “National Challenge”, with extra funding to improve their results.
Tory education spokesperson Maria Miller says too many students leave without ‘good’ GCSEs
The general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), Dr John Dunford, says the programme has put extra pressure on schools.
He also warned against judging schools on one year’s results.
“The GCSE results are most significant for the pupils themselves,” he said.
“We have got to be reasonable because it takes time to turn schools around.”
Congratulating students on their results, Schools Minister Andrew Adonis said: “Our message to young people is to stay on in education or training, whatever your results, and go on to fulfil your full potential.”
he said almost half of all young people who stayed on would qualify for the Education Maintenance Allowance, a weekly payment of up to £30.
Pre-school ‘gives maths boost’
Going to a good pre-school nursery boosts a child’s chances of achieving in maths at the age of 10, experts say.
A long-term UK study by academics found the biggest influence on a child’s achievement in maths at 10 was the education of their mother.
But they found that going to a good pre-school or primary school and playing word and number games at home also had a big effect.
They say what they call a good “home learning environment” is crucial.
The research – led by Professor Edward Melhuish from Birkbeck, University of London – is published in the journal Science.
The academics looked at the progress of children in the UK from the age of three or four up to 10, and measured it against various factors.
They ranked the children’s “home learning environments” after interviewing their parents about how often they did various activities, such as reading stories, singing nursery rhymes and playing games involving numbers and shapes.
They included other possible factors which could influence a child’s development such as gender and parents’ income, occupation and education.
Strongest effect
“The results indicated that home learning environment, pre-school effectiveness and primary school effectiveness all make separate, significant impacts,” said Professor Melhuish.
“The mother’s educational attainment is the strongest effect, there’s no doubt about that, but home and school and pre-school environments are also important.”
He said that the researchers found many examples where a mother’s lower level of education was more than made up for by parents creating a good home learning environment through the activities they did with their children.
“And there are quite a few well-educated people who do not provide a good home learning environment,” he added.
The report’s authors – from four institutions – pointed to the way China is investing in pre-school education for all in efforts to achieve its economic goals.
In England, all three- and four-year-olds are entitled to a part-time place at nursery school. The Westminster government sees early years education as a vital step in lifting children out of poverty.
Professor Melhuish said although a mother’s education and the family’s socio-economic status were key factors, the study showed how focussing on aspects of a child’s life which could be changed – such as access to good nursery and primary schools – could improve their education and chances in life.
Bellevue teachers prepare to strike
Bellevue teachers picketed outside school-district headquarters Wednesday night as negotiations over a new contract showed no signs of resolution before the scheduled start of school Tuesday.
Teachers in the 16,000-student district say they’re still far from agreement with the Bellevue School District over salary and their concerns about the district’s centrally mandated curriculum. In June, teachers authorized a strike for the start of school if a new contract wasn’t in place. The current three-year contract is set to expire Sunday.
About 500 teachers chanted “No contract? No school!” as the School Board had its regularly scheduled meeting inside.
Middle-school teacher Julie Tzucker said the district curriculum is a major issue for teachers.
“We’d like the freedom to design lessons and not have a scripted curriculum. Every classroom is unique; every student is unique.”
On its Web site, the district is warning parents that unless a contract is signed by Monday, classes may not start Tuesday. Negotiations are scheduled through the Labor Day weekend.
Meanwhile, teachers in the Snoqualmie Valley and Northshore school districts avoided potential strikes by approving new contracts Wednesday.
Northshore School District teachers ratified a three-year deal that includes raises, more resources for teacher training and an agreement to try to reduce class sizes. The district serves Bothell, Kenmore and Woodinville.
The new contract includes a 4.4 percent cost-of-living adjustment for this school year, as approved by the state Legislature, according to a district news release. The contract also will give Northshore teachers additional modest raises to maintain competitive salaries with nearby districts. Some parts of the agreement depend on the passage of a technology levy in 2010.
The Snoqualmie Education Association, which also had authorized a strike in June, also ratified a new contract on Wednesday. The union said the three-year agreement struck a good balance between the Snoqualmie Valley School District’s financial responsibilities and its ability to attract and retain quality teachers.
Curriculum an issue
Bellevue is widely considered one of the state’s best school districts, with high test scores and a high level of college participation. But under the leadership of former Superintendent Mike Riley, the increased academic rigor over the past decade was accompanied by increasing district control over curriculum, including standardizing what is taught from classroom to classroom and, teachers say, even how they must teach it.
“The district’s micromanagement shows a tremendous lack of confidence in teachers’ professional abilities,” said Dale Folkerts, spokesman for the Bellevue Education Association.
School-district spokeswoman Ann Oxrieder said the district presented teachers with a memorandum of understanding Monday that says teachers may use their professional judgment to modify or supplement the standardized curriculum.
But Michele Miller, president of the Bellevue Education Association, said the district still would require teachers to submit alternative plans in advance for approval. Teachers say that leaves them without the flexibility to modify lessons to meet the needs of individual students or to adapt instruction to the interests of different classes.
The district argues that the common curriculum helps ensure that students in every classroom receive the same education.
Former superintendent Riley left in November. Karen Clark, the district’s former finance director, is serving as acting superintendent.
Dispute over raises
On the salary issue, Bellevue teachers say that while they’re among the region’s highest paid, their salaries haven’t kept up with raises in other districts.
The district says its offer of a 1.5 percent pay increase for this school year, combined with a state cost-of-living raise, would give teachers a 6.6 percent salary increase for 2008-09. Oxrieder noted that the salary offer comes as the district is cutting $4.8 million from its budget.
High school sports suffer for glory of a few
Green Bay Packers legend Vince Lombardi said that “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”
When he caught heat for that now-famous comment’s apparent harshness, Lombardi offered a half-funny reprise: “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?”
Yes, winning is a worthy goal, and, yes, we do keep score. But is winning at all costs a worthy goal?
I don’t think so, especially when winning involves young people.
This subject is the subtext of “Grass is greener on another field,” an Aug. 26 article by St. Petersburg Times reporter Eduardo A. Encina about high school football players who switch schools to showcase their athletic abilities and to increase their value in the eyes of college scouts.
After all, why play football if you don’t dream of a college scholarship? The best way to get the scouts, especially those from prestigious Division I-A, to notice you is to play for an established powerhouse.
A player’s desire for a scholarship, a parent’s hope of seeing his or her son score big on television on Saturday afternoons and a coach’s demand for a superior team and bragging rights often produce unsavory practices.
The most obvious of these practices is that of outstanding players transferring from one school to another. Although Encina’s article identifies only the 22 most notable transfers in the Tampa Bay area, many other players transfer. When these players switch schools, they boost their new teams’ winning edge while diminishing that of their old teams. In other words, the established teams get better, and the less-established, often smaller ones get worse.
“It’s gotten to the point where something’s got to be done,” Robinson High’s coach Mike DePue said in the Times article. “Everybody isn’t playing with the same deck. I’m just dumbfounded. It’s a battle for the have-nots.” (Robinson is the smallest public high school in Hillsborough County.)
DePue is not alone. Many other coaches statewide also complain that their best talent is being raided by their more powerful peers. The dirty secret is that these raiders are engaging in the unsportsmanlike conduct of recruiting players. They telephone these youngsters and their parents at home. They exchange text messages with players. The boldest coaches visit players’ homes or meet the players elsewhere.
“It’s detrimental to high school sports,” Hillsborough County athletic director Lanness Robinson told the Times. “In a way that free agency has been to professional sports, high school sports have moved in the same direction. It deteriorates the concept of team.”
Parents share a lot of the blame in these recruiting wars. Heeding the advice of coaches, many families move to new addresses to make their sons eligible to play at select schools. According to the Times article, one highly skilled player was ruled ineligible for his senior year after officials discovered that the player’s father had falsified his address.
Many high school sports officials and coaches say that in trying to get their sons into the right schools, parents have become agents. A casualty is loyalty to a team and a school. Loyalty is a thing of the past.
I go further and argue “student” has been taken out of the “student athlete” equation in high-powered football communities. We have nothing more than “pure athletes” preparing for the next level in their sport.
The Florida High School Athletic Association, in 2006, attempted to implement a rule that would require players who switched schools to sit out a year. This effort was killed by the Legislature after widespread public opposition.
In contrast to Florida, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association voted in March, by an overwhelming majority, to force athletes who switch schools after the start of 10th grade to sit out for an entire year unless their families move.
The new rule took effect immediately, and it permits only a few exceptions, such as “financial hardship” and transfers for “educational necessities.” Under the state’s old system, transfers were forced to sit out the first 30 days of the season.
Florida won’t be following New Jersey’s lead any time soon. Here in the football-crazy Sunshine State, football is king. Players are meat on the hoof, and far too many of our coaches and parents believe that “winning is the only thing.” If it weren’t, we wouldn’t keep score.
Taliban Violently Campaigns Against Girls’ Education in Northwest Pakistan
SWAT DISTRICT, Pakistan — The Swat valley, a picturesque region in the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, was once a tourist destination. Two years ago, however, it became a Taliban haven when Maulana Fazlullah, a hardline cleric turned militant Taliban commander, launched a vicious campaign against the education of girls.
Unlike much of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) to the east, along the 1,400-mile border with Afghanistan, the Swat valley has historically been known for the relatively liberal values and traditions of its people, as well as its mesmerizing natural scenery.
When Buddhism was the primary influence in the area, from about the 1st century B.C. to the the 9th century A.D., the Swat valley was a regional seat of learning, a destination for knowledge-seekers from central Asia and China.
Under Miangul Abdul Haq Jehanzeb, the last Wali (ruler) of the princely state of Swat, then part of India, who ruled from 1949 until the Swat state was dissolved and became part of Pakistan in 1969, special attention was paid to education in general and the education of girls in particular.
In fact, Fazlullah himself received his intermediate education at the Government Post Graduate Jehanzeb College in Mingwara, an institution established by the benevolent Wali in 1952.
The last Wali of Swat considered girls’ education essential for socioeconomic development, and he introduced co-education in all state schools, according to local history professor Sultan-e-Room.
Almost 50 years after the end of the progressive Wali’s rule, however, Islamist militant groups in the region appear bent on denying an education to thousands of young girls in Swat and neighboring districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). Fazlullah’s campaign against girls’ schools, which he has fostered via broadcasts on a pirate FM radio station, is among the most damaging.
North West Frontier Province (Shaheen Buneri)
At the outset of his crusade, in 2006, Fazlullah decreed that women should remain within the four walls of their homes and refrain from attending school. He also discouraged female health workers from performing their duties in nearby health facilities, and interfered with a polio vaccination campaign in the Swat valley. He claimed that the vaccination effort was “a Western conspiracy to make Muslims infertile so that their numbers could not grow,” according to the Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Focus.
During his nightly radio broadcasts, Fazlullah routinely announced the names of female students who had stopped attending school and promised them a high place in paradise.
“Girls’ education leads to obscenity and vulgarity in the society. This is a conspiracy of the United States and other ‘infidel’ nations to deviate our younger generations from the right path of Islam,” he said in one of his many radio sermons, which can be heard within a 40-kilometer radius of his base of operations.
In November 2007, then-Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf sent 25,000 security forces to fight Fazlullah’s militants in Swat. The military action achieved partial success by dislodging militants from Fazlullah’s headquarters in Mamdheri. Subsequently, the militant leader established bases in the towns of Matta and Kabal and opened Shariah courts in Gat Peuchar, in upper Swat.
Earlier this year, Pakistan military officials claimed that the area had been cleared of Fazlullah’s influence and that a number of his militants had been killed. However, Fazlullah subsequently launched a new campaign and began targeting girls schools in different parts of the valley.
According to government officials, more than 90 girls’ schools have been either burned or bombed by militants associated with Fazlullah. Other independent sources claim that a total of 135 girls’ schools have been destroyed since July 2006.
In a mid-July telephone interview from the Mingawara Press Club, Fazlullah spokesman Muslim Khan, contradicting earlier denials, admitted his group’s involvement in attacking girls’ schools.
“These schools were used by the security forces as bunkers. That’s why we attacked them,” he said.
In the wake of Pakistan’s Feb. 18 general elections, the Awami National Party, a Pashtun nationalist party, came to power in the NWFP. As part of a changed anti-terror policy, the new government signed a peace agreement with Taliban militants in the Swat valley on May 21, 2008.
The peace agreement failed to restore peace to the volatile region, and many believe that it strengthened the militants’ hand. Khadim Hussain Amir, an Islamabad-based political analyst, says the agreement gave the militants the time and opportunity they needed to regroup and strengthen their positions against government security forces.
“The peace agreement emboldened militants to re-establish their contacts with militant groups in Pakistan’s chaotic tribal areas and to challenge government authority in the adjoining districts of Buner, Dir and Shangla,” Amir explained. He added that Fazlullah attacks schools as a way to guarantee future recruits for his movement.
The prevailing fear in the Swat valley has forced thousands of girls and young women to become prisoners in their homes and has put an end to their educational careers, though some brave parents have shifted their children to other schools in the province.
Zia-ud-Din Yousafzai, secretary of the Swat Schools Association, says that the education of the area’s girls is the main casualty in the conflict between the Taliban and Pakistan security forces. She estimates that 80,000 girls have been affected by the Taliban “jihad” against female education.
“The majority of the children are suffering from acute psychological trauma and they have lost interest in their studies,” Yousafzai said.
Shaheen Buneri is a freelance journalist based in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Kate Moss poses nude again
London, Aug 29 : Supermodel Kate Moss poses nude again in a Turkish bathhouse.
Thesun.co.uk reports that a few days after she had stripped for a spread in a US magazine interview with just her hand covering the most private part of her body, Moss bares all again for America’s W publication.
In most of the poses she is sprawled seductively on the floor of a steamy Istanbul bathhouse.
Glen Campbell’s new album rocks country chart
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LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – Country veteran Glen Campbell’s unusual covers album is his biggest release of new material in more than 30 years.
“Meet Glen Campbell” (Capitol), featuring versions of tunes by the likes of rock bands Green Day and the Foo Fighters, opened at No. 27 on the U.S. Top Country Albums chart in the week ended August 24. It’s his highest-charting album of new studio material since “Basic” checked in at No. 17 in 1976.
Campbell last charted with an album of new studio material in 1988, when “Light Years” travelled to No. 58. He was most recently on the chart with “All the Best,” which went to No. 12 in 2003. He first appeared on the country albums chart in 1967 with “Gentle on My Mind.”
On The Billboard 200, “Meet Glen Campbell” debuted at No. 155. It is his first album to register on this chart since “All the Best” peaked at No. 89 in February 2003.
C Kkompany
MUNNABHAI M.B.B.S. started a trend of sorts. Gangsters with a heart of gold acting as modern-day Robinhoods. Robbing the notorious rich and helping the oppressed poor.
Writer turned debutante director Sachin Yardi borrows a leaf from MUNNABHAI M.B.B.S. and presents a tale that not only talks of Robinhoods, but also makes a scathing attack at news reporting hitting an all-time low (anything for TRPs), makes digs at Ekta Kapoor and her serials, also looks at the underworld-builder-cops nexus.
The story of three losers attaining power overnight makes for interesting viewing.
But the problem is, C Kkompany lacks consistency. The comedy is truly hilarious at places, but there’re times when you sit motionless, not reacting to the on-screen antics. If the first hour is a joyous ride, the second hour is akin to driving on a road full of potholes. T
he climax is also a letdown (in the mela), although the end sequence — C Kkompany is now a movement — was the right way to conclude the film.
All said, C Kkompany had the germs of being a cool entertainer, but it ends up being a one-time average watch.
C Kkompany is about three individuals, all living in the ‘C’ Wing of a middle class housing society: Akshay (Tusshar) is a crime reporter, Mr. Joshi (Anupam Kher) is a retired accountant trying to deal with his ungrateful son and Lambodar (Rajpal Yadav) is at loggerheads with his wife over his job. These three friends share their respective plight with one another and find solace in each other’s company.
On one occasion, they play a harmless prank to tackle their problems.
One thing leads to another and before they realize, the incident becomes big news. But things don’t stop there. They put their new founded fame to good use and this in turn triggers off a series of incidents, which propel them to such heights that the three become the talk of the nation.
That Sachin Yardi has a flair for comedy was more than evident when he penned the thoroughly entertaining KYAA KOOL HAI HUM. C Kkompany also boasts of humour-laden sequences that keep you in splits at several points.
But keeping the humour alive from start to end is not everyone’s cup of tea. Yardi’s humour works till the beginning of the second hour, but things stagnate thereafter. Things get repetitive. There’s not much movement in the story and the comic scenes also range from enjoyable to avoidable.
Music is quite okay, but the songs — barring the Sanjay Dutt track at the outset — show up without valid situations. The Tusshar-Celina track, although well shot, comes up from nowhere. Cinematography is alright.
C Kkompany gets its glory because of its three protagonists. Tusshar is only climbing the ladder with every film. He’s excellent. Anupam Kher proves yet again that he’s amongst the best in the business. Rajpla Yadav is efficient too.
Mithun Chakraborty is in command after a long time. The veteran is superb. Vinay Apte and Dilip Prabhavalkar do complete justice to their respective roles. Raima Sen is pleasant. Karan Johar, Mahesh Bhatt and Ekta Kapoor’s appearances give the film that extra sheen.
On the whole, C Kkompany is funny in parts, not in totality. An ordinary fare!
Chamku
Kahani kabhi khatam nahin hoti… That’s the catchline of Chamku. True, certain stories are timeless and ageless, they keep getting repeated year after year, with new faces obviously.
Vendetta — one theme that’s beaten to death in Bollywood. Chamku tackles the age-old theme of revenge, although director Kabeer Kaushik throws a twist at the outset, when a Naxalite is picked up by RAW and IB to work for them.
Otherwise, Chamku is old wine presented in a new bottle. The only saving grace is Bobby Deol, who delivers his career-best performance in Chamku. But the sad part is that the script succumbs to predictability all through.
Besides, what’s with a title like Chamku? Sure, the story is about a guy called Chandrama Singh aka Chamku, but in these fast changing times, when the multiplex audience holds the key, a title like Chamku will only dissuade them from buying the ticket. Also, a title like Chamku sends out signals that it’s a comedy. It’s not!
Another factor that goes against it is the violence/brutality depicted in this 2-hour film. Blood, gore, crudity and brutality is out, but Kabeer Kaushik still believes in the cinema of 1970s and seems to have given action director Tinu Verma a free hand to recreate the violence-laden atmosphere of 1970s.
Pistols, guns, knives, swords, blood-soaked bodies, spare us the gore please.
To cut a long story short, there’s hardly any chamak in Chamku.
Chamku depicts the journey of a male Naxalite from the interiors of Bihar, tutored under a covert government program to eliminate the anti-social elements. Chandrama Singh aka Chamku has no alternative. Kill them or we’ll kill you, he’s told by Kapoor (Irrfan Khan).
His life undergoes a dramatic change when he falls in love with Priyanka Chopra. He wants to lead a normal life, but is it so easy? Also, he comes face to face with his nightmarish past (Akhilendra Mishra).
A pertinent question that crosses your mind is, what did the Deols see in a script like this? The execution is fluid at places, but the written material is so predictable after a point that you lose interest as incident after incident unravels.
The first half does boast of a few interesting sequences. The transformation from a ruthless killer to a romantic is depicted beautifully. Also, a number of sequences are filmed with flourish. But the film goes downhill in the second hour, courtesy a screenplay of convenience.
Monty Sharma’s music is below par. ‘Aaja Milke’ is the sole decent track. The item song (Rosa) looks like a hurried job. Gopal Shah’s cinematography captures the various moods of the film well. Tinu Verma’s action is too realistic. The blood and gore could’ve been tapered.
Bobby gets it right. He conveys a lot even when silent. This performance deserves all the praise. Priyanka is wasted. There’s no scope for her actually. Ditto for Riteish Deshmukh and Danny Denzongpa.
In fact, the two actors are hardly there in the movie. Irrfan Khan, as always, is competent. Rajpal Yadav does well as the informer. Akhilendra Mishra is supposed to act loud, which he does well. Arya Babbar gets no scope, not even a line to deliver. Ditto for Deepal Shaw.
On the whole, Chamku rests on an outdated plot and given the blood-gore-brutality in the film, will face an uphill task. Businesswise, it has some chances in the U.P.-Bihar region.
Late Ledger’s apartment up for rent
New York, Aug 29 : The apartment where late Australian actor Heath Ledger lived has been put on the market for rent.
Ledger was found dead in the downtown Manhattan apartment in January, after an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Tmz.com reports that the three-bedroom house is available for $26,000 a month.
The loft has its own private balcony, original Corinthian columns and a wood-burning fireplace. Ledger had paid $22,000 just a month before he died.
Arjun’s next avatar
Arjun is currently working in director A Venkatesh’s ‘Durai’ followed by ‘Thiruvannamalai’ with Perarasu.
After ‘Vaathiyar’, he teams up with Venkatesh for ‘Durai’. Interestingly ‘Durai’ has story and screenplay are by Arjun. The cast includes Vivek, K Viswanath and Vincent Asokan. Arjun teams up with Vivek for comedy.
“Vivek suits the role very well. That’s why we’ve opted for him this time. He plays the owner of a mess”, says Arjun.
Amit Dhawan from Mumbai enters the Tamil scene as villain.
Call rates decline
Overnight call rates decreased within the range of 6-8.90% on Thursday, August 28. Weighted Average – Rate (WAR) stood at 8.12% on August 28, as compared to 8.92% on the previous working day i.e. August 27. The total turnover of the call market decreased sharply to Rs 1,41,853.6 million from the previous day`s Rs 1,45,707.9 million.
The amount outstanding under the standing liquidity adjustment facility available with the RBI was Rs 10.12 billion at 9% on August 28. The cumulative cash balance of the scheduled commercial banks with RBI stood at Rs 35,412.97 billion as on August 26.
Victory Paper & Boards locked at lower circuit
Shares of Victory Paper (Q, N,C,F)* & Boards (India) are locked at 4.93% lower circuit. The shares were last traded at Rs 3.86, down Rs 0.2 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday at 10:55 a.m.
The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs 4.05 and low of Rs 3.86. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE is 1,000.
In the earlier session, the shares lost 4.92%, or Rs 0.21, at Rs 4.06.
Currently, the stock is trading down 56.33% from its 52-week high of Rs 8.84 and above 52.57% over the 52-week low of Rs 2.53.
BHEL gets contract worth $264 mln
MUMBAI: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd said on Friday it got a contract worth Rs 11.55 billion ($264 million) for supply of power generation equipment to a plant in the north-western state of Punjab.
India’s economy grows at 7.9 pc in Q1
New Delhi: Indian economic growth moderated to 7.9 per cent in the first quarter of current fiscal, against 9.2 per a year ago as rising borrowing costs impacted manufacturing and some other sectors.
However, moderation in the GDP growth was expected as RBI hardened interest rates to control double-digit inflation.
If the first quarter GDP growth continues in the remaining months of this fiscal, the economy would expand at the rate more or less projected by Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
As he projected the economy to grow by close to 8 per cent, compared to 9 per cent in the previous fiscal.
Manufacturing growth almost halved to 5.6 per cent, against 10.9 per cent as rising interest rates impacted their expansion. Even though agriculture grew by lower rate of three per cent, it is quite considerable on the high base of 4.4 per cent.
The other sectors which witnessed considerable decline in growth rate are electricity, gas and water supply, which expanded at the rate of 2.6 per cent against 7.9 per cent.
In the services sector, trade, hotels, transport and communication grew by 11.2 per cent, against 13.1 per cent.
While, financing, insurance, real estate and business services expanded by 9.3 per cent, against 12.6 per cent.
However, community, social and personal services grew by higher rate of 8.4 per cent, against 5.2 per cent.
Construction activities also expanded at higher rate of 11.4 per cent, as compared to 7.7 per cent, while mining and quaring grew by 4.8 per cent, against 1.7 per cent.
Triveni Engineering up 5.37% at BSE
Shares of Triveni Engineering & Industries are trading at Rs 97.05, up Rs 4.95, or 5.37% at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday at 11:40 a.m.
The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs 97.45 and low of Rs 92.40. The total volume of shares traded at the BSE is 343,416.
In the earlier session, the shares declined 7.48%, or Rs 7.45, at Rs 92.10.
Currently, the stock is trading down 50.41% from its 52-week high of Rs 195.70 and above 60.95% over the 52-week low of Rs 60.30.
Assam man swims for 26 hours to promote water sports
Aug 29 : Assam’s star swimmer, 26-year-old Elvis Ali Hazarika, has created a sensation by swimming non-stop for 26 hours at a local pool here with the sole aim of promoting water sports among the youth and attracting sponsorship for the discipline.
The marathon swim ended 10 p.m. Thursday with an exhausted Elvis, a national award winning swimmer and an inspector with the Central Reserve Police Force, being immediately taken to the ICU of a local hospital for medication.
“Elvis is fine now and should be out of the ICU soon,” doctors at the GNRC Hospital said.
As Elvis took the last lap of the 60 metre pool, a massive crowd roared and cheered the international swimmer.
“This is a remarkable feat by Elvis. Although he was just on fluid during the 26 hours of non-stop swimming, Elvis was absolutely stable, barring complaints of body ache and we sprayed some pain killers on his body for relief,” Rajib Baruah, an official of the Assam Board of Sports, said.
The decision to undertake the marathon swim was aimed at promoting water sports and making sure authorities and sponsors take the game seriously.
“Swimming in India is still taken as a recreation sport and hence the idea to undertake this marathon swim. I am happy that I was able to accomplish my target and hope my effort helps in encouraging the younger generation to take up swimming seriously,” Elvis said Friday.
Elvis took to the pool with freestyle and enthralled the crowd with all sorts of swimming styles. “I sincerely hope the authorities and sponsors would take the sport seriously now,” Elvis said.
“We hope Elvis’ feat would be an inspiration for the younger generation,” coach Illian Ali said as he prodded and encouraged Elvis throughout the marathon swim.
“The entire event was organised by the family and well wishers of Elvis although the Assam Board of Sports supported the marathon swim,” a family member said.
Dalai Lama admitted to Mumbai hospital
Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was admitted to Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai on Thursday for treatment of abdominal discomfort.
The 73-year-old Nobel laureate will undergo investigations on Friday, the hospital’s spokesperson Mohan Rajan said.
“There was no cause for concern,” he said.
The Dalai Lama was brought to the hospital in a chartered flight and was admitted as he was suffering from abdominal discomfort, Rajan said.
He is under the treatment of Narendra Trivedi, who is also the Vice-President of the private hospital, Rajan said.
Earlier this month, the Dalai Lama had come to the hospital for a routine medical check up, hospital sources said.
